The AcerCloud

Acer recently unveiled the AcerCloud at the CES conference in Las Vegas. As you might have guessed, the AcerCloud acts a lot like the iCloud. In fact, some might say that the AcerCloud is a kind of attempt to copy Apple’s iCloud. Only, the AcerCloud doesn’t really come close to competing with Apple’s cloud.

Available only for Android devices (at the moment), the AcerCloud allows users to save photos and documents to the AcerCloud – but, there’s a catch. Anything saved to the AcerCloud will only be saved on the AcerCloud for 30 days. After that, anything sent to the AcerCloud will be erased (see why the AcerCloud is no iCloud?). All photos and documents sent to the AcerCloud will be automatically saved on a user’s desktop hard drive. So, what’s the point of the AcerCloud?

A Useless Idea?

If items sent to the AcerCloud can only be saved for 30 days, is there any point to Acer’s new cloud? It’s hard to see why anyone would use the AcerCloud in lieu of a program like DropBox, which really does the same thing. Further, why send items to the AcerCloud is those items will just be stored on a desktop hard drive anyway?

Acer believes that users will enjoy being able to access documents and photos from anywhere. This is, after all, the point of a cloud service, but it’s hard to overlook that 30-day expiry date. Sure, you can view photos and documents from anywhere, but you can only view these things for thirty days. After that time limit has expired, you’ll have to figure out another way to view your items when not at home (again, DropBox is a good option).

The Clear.fi Option

The AcerCloud also includes Acer’s new Cler.fi. Clear.fi allows users to download music or videos from the cloud at any time. Thankfully, music and videos downloaded from the AcerCloud don’t expire after thirty days (Acer got this right, at least). Yet, one can’t help but wonder if Android users will bother with the AcerCloud. Sure, it’s a cloud option, but it’s one that’s also flawed and bound to fail.
There’s another issue with the AcerCloud that should be addressed. Not too long ago, companies attempting to copy what Apple was already offering would cover up these copy cat attempts. Seemingly, companies like Acer aren’t afraid of copying Apple’s innovations – so much so that a company like Acer can go ahead and call its new service the AcerCloud (sound like the iCloud? You bet!).

There’s something terribly wrong with a tech company once its innovations begin to mimic those of other companies. Sure, Apple products and ideas are enviable, but the whole point of a tech company is to create new and unseen things. The AcerCloud is neither new nor unseen. There’s no word yet as to when the AcerCloud will be available for Android phone and tablet users, though Acer has said that the company is working on a Windows option as well (soon to be released).